Anticipation

The countdown begins!

opens on June 28th in the Lebanon Valley Mall.  I have already signed up for the mailing list and email notices.  Can you tell how excited I am?

Big weekend!

Several years ago my sister and brother in law put a huge addition on their home.  They hired someone to take up all of the patio paving stones since that portion of the yard was going to be displaced by the addition.  They have had about 1000 pavers sitting on pallets in one of the outbuildings and want to get rid of them.  They offered them to me.  I am in the process of bringing 400 of them to my house...slowly.  My other BIL is building a patio for me.  Originally it was going to be very small and very different.  The patio is now taking on a life of it's own.  It will be roughly 10' x 16'.  The treated lumber for the surround has been put in place and dirt has been brought in to level the area.  Next a couple of yards of "crush & run" and a yard of sand will be put down, tamped and then the pavers will be installed.  I am hoping that we will be able to work on it this weekend so that I can use it over the Independence Day weekend.  I am really excited about the prospect of having a place to sit with my laptop and coffee in the morning and a glass of wine in the evening.  The back of the house gets lovely early morning sun and is totally shaded in the evening.

My daughter-in-law is arriving on Sunday afternoon with my oldest granddaughter.  Em will be staying with me for 2 weeks.  This is something we do every year and is the highlight of the summer for me.  She is 12 now and I don't know how much longer she will want to do this so I am going to enjoy every moment that I can with her. She is signed up for two "camps" - first week is a sewing camp and the second is a cooking camp.  She sews pretty well (did a sewing camp also last year) so she is looking forward to making a "flirty skirt" this year.  Em also loves to cook (and is an excellent baker!) so cooking camp will also be great fun.  I will work at the office in the mornings and then spend the rest of the day with Em.  I can hardly wait!

I am going to finish planting the very last of my perennials this weekend and get down 3 more bags of mulch. (I think I am going to put my DIL to work!) That will be it for the garden except for maintenance.  It is hard work building a garden from a nasty patch of grass!  I think there will be one more "building" year and then I hope to be reasonably satisfied with it.  Everything I planted last year came back beautifully with the exception of my bee balm.  It looks terrible.  I think it has some sort of mildew.  Anyone know of a good home remedy for that?

More thrifting

Last weekend a nearby town was having their community yard sale.  The name of the town is Stouchburg and it is a darling little hamlet with some really beautiful homes.  My sister’s friend is beginning to collect items for her daughter’s first apartment.  She is hoping not to spend too much money so a big yard sale was just the ticket.  I really had so much to do at home (and I haven’t cleaned house in weeks) so I thought about backing out…but changed my mind.  I am so happy that I did! 

I have wanted some antique shutters to hide the laundry area in my kitchen.  I have seen some that were priced reasonably but were not as tall as I was hoping to find.  At last!  I have a pair!! One is right side up and the other is down but aren’t they great?!  Chippy old white and green paint.  They stand about 6’ tall.

And just because I can’t leave well enough alone, look at the hinges.  Can you tell – they make me swoon!! 

I am not going to tell you what I paid for them because if I did you would hate me! 

 

I also found a sweet little table that I will use in my dining room.  I can’t decide if I am going to refinish or paint.  Either way, the “faux” leather tabletop will have to be replaced.   

I also found more silver plate flatware.  Sorry for the glare off the silver.  They really are so beautiful and shined up just like new! 

This is the back of my sister’s car.  Looks like a pretty successful day, doesn’t it?!!

Once again, I am linking up with Rhonda’s blog, Southern Hospitality.